I believe Dan died in early 1972. He and two other AC students went home for the Winter break, slept in the car on the way, and left a propane heater on in the car without sufficient windows open.
I believe Ken is correct. Three of them died in that accident, and it had to be in the early '70s as it happened while I was at AC and I first arrived at AC in August of 1970.
I remember that incident and wish to go back in time to remember Dan Faulk more clearly. Who was he with, I forget. My memory is not great but I don't remember any other 'accident' announcements like that one.. Hmm, wasn't it before 1970? I think I was still a student. I gradudated 1970, but am not sure of time lines anymore. The AC Experience was ...... our own..
My recollection squares with Ken's and Al's... Dan was with Joel Walker, whom I had known before AC as a dorm mate at SEP. I vividly remember Don Wendt breaking the news to me, and how stunned I was, but I don't remember a third victim. I believe the tragedy took place near Henryetta, Oklahoma. In my mind Dan is always connected with Ken and with Nick Tomich, the "Sacketts" of our campus, and Dan's nickname was Hoss.
Kirk Myers says this happened in January 1972. Here is how it was reported in a local newspaper:
Two College Students Asphyxiated
Two Ambassador College students died from suffocation or poisonous fumes from charcoal they burned to keep warm while sleeping in their car in Henryetta, Okla.
Police said Richard Joel Walker, 19, of Decatur, Ga., and Danny Franklin Faulk, 22, of Winter Garden, Fla., were found Monday by a gas station attendant.
The two juniors were returning to the Pasadena college following vacation at home during the semester break. They will be buried in their home towns.
I remember Joel Walker. A down-to-earth Georgia boy with a strong southern accent. There was a big sign on his desk, "Ha" because that's the way he pronounced "Hi." He was in my dorm at the time of the tragedy. Never came back from the semester break. We talked about how the two of them must have died in their sleep. Their last words would have been "It's really cold tonight. Let's leave the heater on in the car so we don't freeze." I think it was one of those Coleman catalytic heaters.
They had a charcoal fire going because the heater did not work in Joel's car. It was an Opel coupe that I had considered buying from Joel a few days earlier. I always regretted that I did not buy it because of what happened a few days later. Joel Walker's uncle or great uncle was Dixie Walker, an old time major league baseball player who coached for the Dodgers in the 1960s and 70s. The family was from Flowery Branch, Georgia. Joel and Dan were good guys. I seem to remember that a third student died as well.
I was a close friend of Dan and Joel and remember being told the shocking news. Al got the story straight, with just the two of them parked at a gas station overnight with a little heater to keep warm I could just imagine Dan grinning and saying, "Gooder than grits!"
During my brief year at AC, as freshmen -- even though we were in separate dorms -- Joel Walker and I became good friends. Sorry to say, although Dan's name is familiar to me, I never met or knew him personally, that I now recall.
However, knowing Joel, I'm certain Dan was a good-hearted fellow with a great sense of humor, and I am as saddened now to hear he was one of the pair of (not three) AC students killed that sad January day in 1972, as I was shocked to discover Joel Walker was one of them, shortly after it happened.
Not long after, at age 21 finally, I abandoned my educational efforts and left home in Kansas City, to strike out on my own, outside of college/university/schooling, to become self-employed eventually. Perhaps this sad event had more than a little something to do with that (at the time) gut-wrenching decision.
Thinking back on my leaving AC after only a year, had I remained another two years I might have been along with these two fellows on that fatal trip. Perhaps that could have changed things and they might have survived, but it's doubtful I would have known the dangers of camping heaters in a confined car, and also might not be alive today, or ever gotten married and had many children and grandchildren so far, if I had been along with them for that journey back to Pasadena.
My younger brother Terry and I had a very nearly identical experience traveling from Denver to Pasadena in 1973, in the mountains approaching Albuquerque NM from the north. (Who, having no experience living there yet, knew the desert could get so cold at night?)
Still, I wish that I had found the time and space to get to know Dan personally, rather than as just another one of a crowd of faces of fellow students, from now long-forgotten classes that didn't really amount to all that much after all, in the total scheme of things of real value during this lifetime.
Kenneth Graham (1969)
I believe Dan died in early 1972. He and two other AC students went home for the Winter break, slept in the car on the way, and left a propane heater on in the car without sufficient windows open.
Neil Colton (1966)
I believe Dan and another student named Joel died of that accident in 1968. I was in the same dorm and remember this tragedy.
Al Scheck (1970)
I believe Ken is correct. Three of them died in that accident, and it had to be in the early '70s as it happened while I was at AC and I first arrived at AC in August of 1970.
Bill Hughes (1966)
I remember that incident and wish to go back in time to remember Dan Faulk more clearly. Who was he with, I forget. My memory is not great but I don't remember any other 'accident' announcements like that one.. Hmm, wasn't it before 1970? I think I was still a student. I gradudated 1970, but am not sure of time lines anymore. The AC Experience was ...... our own..
Daniel Cook (1970)
My recollection squares with Ken's and Al's... Dan was with Joel Walker, whom I had known before AC as a dorm mate at SEP. I vividly remember Don Wendt breaking the news to me, and how stunned I was, but I don't remember a third victim. I believe the tragedy took place near Henryetta, Oklahoma. In my mind Dan is always connected with Ken and with Nick Tomich, the "Sacketts" of our campus, and Dan's nickname was Hoss.
Al Scheck (1970)
Kirk Myers says this happened in January 1972. Here is how it was reported in a local newspaper:
Klaus Obermeit (1970)
I remember Joel Walker. A down-to-earth Georgia boy with a strong southern accent. There was a big sign on his desk, "Ha" because that's the way he pronounced "Hi." He was in my dorm at the time of the tragedy. Never came back from the semester break. We talked about how the two of them must have died in their sleep. Their last words would have been "It's really cold tonight. Let's leave the heater on in the car so we don't freeze." I think it was one of those Coleman catalytic heaters.
Glenn Parker (1967)
They had a charcoal fire going because the heater did not work in Joel's car. It was an Opel coupe that I had considered buying from Joel a few days earlier. I always regretted that I did not buy it because of what happened a few days later. Joel Walker's uncle or great uncle was Dixie Walker, an old time major league baseball player who coached for the Dodgers in the 1960s and 70s. The family was from Flowery Branch, Georgia. Joel and Dan were good guys. I seem to remember that a third student died as well.
John Meeker (1969)
I was a close friend of Dan and Joel and remember being told the shocking news. Al got the story straight, with just the two of them parked at a gas station overnight with a little heater to keep warm I could just imagine Dan grinning and saying, "Gooder than grits!"
Richard Houghton (Scott) (1969)
During my brief year at AC, as freshmen -- even though we were in separate dorms -- Joel Walker and I became good friends. Sorry to say, although Dan's name is familiar to me, I never met or knew him personally, that I now recall.
However, knowing Joel, I'm certain Dan was a good-hearted fellow with a great sense of humor, and I am as saddened now to hear he was one of the pair of (not three) AC students killed that sad January day in 1972, as I was shocked to discover Joel Walker was one of them, shortly after it happened.
Not long after, at age 21 finally, I abandoned my educational efforts and left home in Kansas City, to strike out on my own, outside of college/university/schooling, to become self-employed eventually. Perhaps this sad event had more than a little something to do with that (at the time) gut-wrenching decision.
Thinking back on my leaving AC after only a year, had I remained another two years I might have been along with these two fellows on that fatal trip. Perhaps that could have changed things and they might have survived, but it's doubtful I would have known the dangers of camping heaters in a confined car, and also might not be alive today, or ever gotten married and had many children and grandchildren so far, if I had been along with them for that journey back to Pasadena.
My younger brother Terry and I had a very nearly identical experience traveling from Denver to Pasadena in 1973, in the mountains approaching Albuquerque NM from the north. (Who, having no experience living there yet, knew the desert could get so cold at night?)
Still, I wish that I had found the time and space to get to know Dan personally, rather than as just another one of a crowd of faces of fellow students, from now long-forgotten classes that didn't really amount to all that much after all, in the total scheme of things of real value during this lifetime.